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Violence and Childhood in the Inner City

NCJ Number
172275
Editor(s)
J McCord
Date Published
1997
Length
342 pages
Annotation
These papers examine urban violence, with emphasis on why cities have so much violence, why some people rather than others become violent, why violence tends to occur in some places rather than others, implications for children and youth, and ways to reduce juvenile delinquency and violence.
Abstract
The papers use a variety of methods, including ethnographic commentary, laboratory experiments, historical reviews, and program descriptions. Individual papers examine attitudes and behavioral codes in urban ghetto cultures, the ways in which social capital help establish norms that can be enforced, the importance of healthy child development to crime prevention, and the impacts of racial discrimination. Additional chapters present reasons why cities in the United States are more violent than cities in other developed countries, the relationship between neuropsychological deficits and violence, and the conditions affecting children raised in contemporary inner-city communities in the United States. Further papers focus on the causes and implications of child abuse child abuse; a proactive prevention program for infants; and intervention strategies that include prenatal services, preschool enrichment, elementary school interventions, and programs for adolescents. Tables, figure, chapter reference lists, and name and subject indexes